In the last few years, the guys up at the Rolling Bones shop in New York have taken an old idea and worked it back into style. The ‘Bones guys took the Doane Spencer ‘32 front suspension setup, and put their own spin on it, and have put some really great looking hot rods on the street in the last few years. The basic idea that Spencer had was to place the spring behind the axle, and mount the spring perches to the wishbones. This lowers the front of the car dramatically, without dropping the axle. The axle is pushed forward just slightly, lengthening the wheelbase, but keeping the axle behind the chin of the grille shell. The front frame horns are pinched about 10″ from the cowl, allowing the frame rails to follow the bottom of the hood sides, and disappearing into the grille shell at the front.
Here are some early shots of the Hilderbrand’s frame going together in our shop -
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- At this point, just another basic ‘32 frame
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- Our Standard X-member Foundation
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- The frame is pinched where it would come from underneat the hood side
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- Flanges of Rails notched for the Pinch
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- Pinched, with front Cross Member Trimmed to Fit
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- Pinched – Fitting Front Crossmember
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- Rear of Front Crossmember Notched to Achieve Correct Caster
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- Top View of Pinch Area
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- Frame Horns Now removed
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- Finished front crossmember
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- Front detail
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- Pinch Detail
